Nice Guys Finish Last
by Valkyrie-Solaris
Summary: An expressively truthful story about the love of the idealistic Yukio towards the enigmatic Hanahoshi Mika and the inevitable competition to have her first against the harrowing Uma Tomoko.


Nice Guys Finish Last By Avery Cer Peter Wells An expressively truthful story about the love of the idealistic Yukio towards the enigmatic Hanahoshi Mika and the inevitable competition to have her first against the harrowing Uma Tomoko.  
  
It was an interestingly warm and lovely September day as Hanahoshi Mika admired the beautiful golden and rich orange leaves dancing around her thin, supple form, masqueraded entirely in an excellent torrent of blue and black rain, or namely her Peace Bell High School Academy uniform. She loved the new school uniforms which the Peace Bell High School Academy had generously given them, she simply hated the undelicate form of various fashions of which the school had tolerated, they had practically let any teenage bum or tramp into the school if they could say their name correctly and count to ten, which probably half of the Peace Bell High School Academy students couldn't even conquer doing. Even today, with Mika's long, flowing dark blue hair gliding elegantly behind her, Hanahoshi Mika couldn't feel the usually nostalgic and lonely feeling that she conventionally felt when walking aimlessly home. Today, since her older sister named Ai wasn't home, she quickly decided to take the long way and enjoy the peaceful and quiet tranquility while she still could. It could even have been said that she enjoyed being alone and feeling her emotions quickly change into being nostalgic, nearly emotional. And being emotional was not one thing that Mika had ever remembered being before.  
  
Suddenly, the footsteps of a certain familiar youth could be clearly heard behind her, she didn't even turn around as she had already recognized the evidently aggressive and rough shuffling of the obvious Uma Tomoko. Even though she wasn't clearly in a mood to play with Tomoko, or even to be around anyone at this moment, she decided that she would play along,"Tomoko, come and walk with me. I'm becoming very tired. Maybe you'll allow me to rest my head on your shoulder?"  
  
The shuffling footsteps of the supposed Uma Tomoko made themselves considerably quicker, finally reaching towards her side, and it seemed as if it had gently attracted her head to his shoulder, almost willingly. Mika freely closed her large sapphire blue eyes warmly, hoping to rest into an unnaturally utopian dream, but the voice that arose from the warm, generous body startled her and awoke her from her much needed affectionate bliss,"Mika? Hanahoshi Mika? This isn't Uma Tomoko. I'm sorry, but I'm..."  
  
Hanahoshi Mika opened her large blue eyes fiercely and glanced minutely into the face of a practical stranger, knocked his arm with her bookbag angrily, and snarled,"How dare you try to take advantage of me, you sneaky bastard! Who do you think you are anyways, sneaking up on young women and trying to coherce us into... into... into doing who knows what! Have some shame! You'd better be listening, Yukio! Yukio?!"  
  
The young man, of whom was at least two or three heads taller than Hanahoshi Mika, and had very clean and very wavy blonde hair and soft honey colored eyes, stopped quickly in his tracks when she first started speaking so rudely and simply stared with puzzlement. He continued to stare until he felt that her expression of livid anger would not change any time soon and that there would be no point in ending the day in such a heavily depressed state,"I'm sorry, Mika. But I didn't mean to startle you. I didn't mean to try and take advantage of you. I mean, not that I was actually intending to, but I couldn't help myself from lending a helping shoulder. I seemed to somehow thought that you were sad and needed a friendly ear. I wanted to help you, Mika. You don't understand anything about me, but I wanted to make the pain go away. I wanted you to see me so that I could make your pain go away. But somehow, I guess, I made the pain stay. Or perhaps, eternity forbid, I have made it worse," The fair young man clearly apologized and knew that he had overstepped his boundaries, he looked and stared deep into her large blue eyes, a noble abyss of an extremely prominent ocean, he thought. But now, as he thoroughly searched for any sign of trouble or anger in her eyes, he couldn't find anything but pain, and something that could have been deep and innocent embarassment,"I apologize, Mika. Please excuse me." And he stepped away from her in an extremely wounded manner.  
  
Mika watched the fair young man trot away quickly, hoping that somehow he would turn around and read the expression of thanks in her eyes, but he didn't. He just trotted away, leaving Mika alone underneath an elder oak tree, allowing the leaves to generously spiral around her lithe form, she was halfway hoping that somehow the leaves would allow her to disappear. Away from this world, away from this entire earth. She didn't know how to exactly express her feelings, she never was the passionate, idealistic, and fiery one, that was always her older sister, her older sister named Ai. She had never learned how to express her true blue feelings of misplaced nostalgia, where there should have undoubtedly been jubilee. But she couldn't find it anywhere, she couldn't seem to have discovered where she had misplaced it. Now she knew why she had so much pain, now she knew that she repressed her anger, her sadness, her passions, her desires, even her loves and her soul. She had repressed it all for eighteen years. Eighteen years? She thought. No, not only for eighteen years, but it aches as if it has been repressed for an entire eternity. Yes, she agreed to the young man, you are right. Eternity forbid.  
  
Hanahoshi Mika sat reading a book in a quite unusually lively and relaxed manner, her long blue hair was now braided into two braids which formed loops at the sides of her head, her deep blue eyes concentrating deeply into the novel, hoping somehow that the library, of which was definitely dull and lifeless, would immediately become her new place of sanctuary, allowing her older place of sanctuary, the ancient Tojo Park Grounds, and her usual ritual of walking alone for at least two or three hours, would literally dissolve and be without sight, knowledge or meaning to her, she just wished that here would be her new place to divulge into another life into her books and become quickly enraptured into an age much different and much unparallel with her own.  
  
"Good evening, Mikako, love. I haven't seen you on campus for a while." A soft, feminine hand slid innocently around Mika's chin and along her cheek, then she looked up into the face of a young woman, just about her age, with her deep auburn-golden hair braided in the exact manner, but the only thing that differed, especially apart from the fact that this young woman's school designated boots where a brighter and more noticeable blue than the others, even Mika's, was that her eyes were a rich golden brown color, this single and adamant feature stood out boldly from all the rest, forcing Mika's mind to oddly turn towards the fair young man.  
  
"Kita, Kitako... how are you?" Mika lifelessly inquired.  
  
The young woman named Kuromori Kita's face quickly dropped into a gaping blank,"You don't seem as if you appreciate that I have come here for you. Why didn't you greet me more happily, more proud and more generous, letting me know that you were actually pleased to see me? Obviously I'm not wanted." And Kita faked as if she were about to go.  
  
"Well," Mika hardly protested,"Go if you must."  
  
Kita's large golden eyes flashed with excellent drive and fierce ambition at Mika's words,"You didn't think that I have forgotten about your birthday present, love, have you? Remember, tomorrow is September 19. You're turning eighteen tomorrow! And I am staying nineteen until early December. Just remind yourself that this present isn't only an object."  
  
Mika frowned and ran her hands exhaustedly through her hair,"I've completely forgotten. Finals are coming up and I've been studying so much, so many new people have come into my life, namely this new young man..."  
  
Kita's expressive eyes once again flashed fiercely,"A new young man?"  
  
Mika shook her head, not exactly knowing how to start this, she was obviously embarassed,"Never mind, I've said too much. Besides, it's none of your business anyways, Kitako."  
  
Kita shrugged her shoulders comically,"I guess not. It isn't any of my business, but I should have the right to know. You understand, don't you, a past friend to a past friend. Nothing more and nothing more? Well, for now anyways." Kita smiled hungrily.  
  
Mika broke away from her glance and replied,"Well, there's this young man of whom I was walking with today, after I left the campus. I took the long way home and..."  
  
"On Tokozawa?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And you were walking with him?"  
  
"No. Not exactly."  
  
"What do you mean by 'not exactly'?"  
  
"Exactly what I mean by it. Not exactly." Mika finalized,"I wasn't exactly with him, but he sort of just came and snuck up and started speaking to me. And it's strange because when he spoke to me, I firstly felt angry and..."  
  
"And outraged of course! Especially if you didn't even know who this guy was in the first place."  
  
Mika glanced back into Kita's eyes,"Affirmative. But, afterwards, when he spoke to me, I felt sort of warm and lovely inside. I felt very safe and almost coherced into..."  
  
Kita grinned mischeviously,"Into sleeping with him?"  
  
Mika said nothing.  
  
"He's an obvious charmer. How sympathetic!" Kita laughed aloud,"But what about Uma Tomoko? I thought you were going steady with him. And I know that you don't sleep around. Unfortunately, not even with me."  
  
Mika frowned disgustedly again, but this time trying to hide it away from Kita's acutely perspective view,"Whatever is in the past is in the past, Kita. But Uma Tokomo and I, we aren't going steady. He just asked me out and I told him that I didn't know. I told him that I was unsure about what I should do. I mean, what I should do in response to that."  
  
"Easy," Kita threw her hands up dramatically in the air,"Respond! What else?"  
  
Mika directed her glance back towards her book, trying to study, trying to replace herself into another world, trying to make Kita disappear since her comical and unserious responses were useless and dull, trying to make that intriguing, fair young man reappear in her place instead.  
  
"So," Kita began after a few minutes of silence,"What are you going to do?"  
  
Mika said nothing and Kita took the hint and ran with it.  
  
She left the building a few minutes later after she couldn't find a book that virtually interested her in the library, and also after she couldn't get an affirmative or negative answer from Mika's true soul.  
  
Kita ran quickly to the Uma residence on Hino drive. It was already half past four and she knew that she didn't have enough time before Mika would sadly leave the library and go to her home, in search of some sort of comfort from this exhausting day. Besides, whoever this new young man was, Kita didn't want him to be in Hanahoshi Mika's life, Kita didn't want any man to be in Mika's life at all. But Kita did think that if Mika was going to date some guy, that it should probably be some guy who she knew personally. And who better from the two choice males than Uma Tomoko? He was very rich, he came from an obviously prestigious family, he was assertively competitive and strong, he was very handsome, and he matched Kita's requirements beautifully. Besides, if Mika messed up this situation with one of the most prominent men in all of Peace Bell, then she would definitely regret this when Tomoko would actually propose to her older sister named Ai, the fiery red and blonde headed girl of whom was most talented, most intelligent, and the ultimate best in everything. Well, in everything that Kita didn't do.  
  
Kita rang the door bell successively, hoping that he was indeed home. And when the door was opened by their chief butler, Kita smiled and waltzed in as she immediately saw the tall, muscular form of a dark-haired youth named Uma Tomoko.  
  
"Kita!" He exclaimed, his mouth open with great astonishment,"What the hell are you doing here?" Then he looked towards the still present butler of whom was silently seeping away, back into his darkness called forced employment,"Why did you let her in?!"  
  
Kita punched Tomoko straight in his chest,"Stop treating me as if I were shit, Tomoko! I haven't come on the account of myself, or for myself. I've come..." Kita glared severely towards the butler,"You are dismissed." She commanded with a superior wave of her hand,"Could we maybe speak in the parlor room?"  
  
Tomoko shook his head,"No. I won't have you staying long. You're disturbing the presence."  
  
Kita glared,"I obviously wasn't disturbing the presence when I fucked you, Tomoko. You certainly were a rotten ex-boyfriend! And a rotten lover! No wonder I broke up with you. You're a wimp!"  
  
"And you're an overbearing, pompous rich girl! Someone of whom I couldn't stand having around this house! Sometimes I even had to force myself to wonder if the only reason that you were dating me was so that you could be close to me and date me or if you date my little sister!"  
  
Kita smacked Tomoko straight in his face and snarled in a deeply whisperlike tone,"How dare you."  
  
Tomoko's piercing green eyes ripped holes into Kita's soul, he tossed his elegant black hair dramatically and replied, his tone much more controlled and much more directly aimed than her own,"I dare exactly as I please. Now I'd be very happy if you left now, before I become really angry."  
  
Kita tossed her head condescendingly and began quickly to the door, she somehow knew exactly how to manipulate him to get exactly what she wanted, this was a way that she showed her power and dominance over all males,"Oh, and Tomoko," Kita called behind her,"If you actually believe that you want to date Hanahoshi Mika. Truthfully. Faithfully. Prove it. Oh, and don't do it for my satisfaction. Do it for your own. Here's a tip. Her birthday is tomorrow and she's turning eighteen, she hasn't received a single gift from anyone, other than myself. There's going to be a ritual gathering tonight. She doesn't exactly know if you'll be attending or not. But don't let her down. You put the pieces of the puzzle together. And if you don't, if you decide otherwise, I advise you to capture her before he does. Oh, and I know exactly how you love competition very, very much. It's in your blood. So this time, use it for a better cause than last."  
  
"He?" Kita could hear Tomoko inquiring frankly,"Who the hell is he? Who is he, Kita? Kita, tell me! Who the hell is he?!"  
  
Uma Tomoko frowned, his thick yet sleek black eyebrows purging themselves into an extremely straight line, filled with both worry and something less than anguish. Tomoko didn't know a word that Kita was talking about, why did she come over his house in the honor of helping someone else, other than herself, out? Why did her easily selfish capabilities and conceited characteristics suddenly change from the single-minded and narcissistic manner for the happiness and well-being of one of the most mysterious girls in Peace Bell High School Academy? Why now? Better yet, why ever? And why, most of all, for Hanahoshi Mika, sister to Hanahoshi Ai? Even when Kita and he were dating, which was fortunately a long, long time ago, long enough to forgive himself for doing so and long enough to remember that in this nearly thoughtless act he had risen peculiarly into a higher social caste system, she had never thought or respected anyone except herself, she had never felt as if anyone else had a right for her to accept, notice, or even respect them. As far as Kita was concerned, from Tomoko's supposedly acute perspective, she was the chief leader and she was the king of all kings.  
  
Tomoko frowned directly at Kita as he continued driving quickly down the road, this beautiful, young girl, of whom he had just now noticed was with him in his car, had caused so many people so much pain and unhappiness, why did he ever think that he loved her? Were his relationships with females truly that unstable? Were his emotions themselves unstable?  
  
"What?!" Kita exclaimed with much irritation, definitely noticing the stares that Tomoko continued to place on her.  
  
"What do you think you're doing anyways?" He rebutted.  
  
"What the hell do you mean, Tomoko?"  
  
Tomoko smirked,"You know exactly what I mean. Why are you meddling into the business of Hanahoshi Mika? Why are you so damn concerned?"  
  
Kita turned her head unknowingly, said nothing, then replied a few moments later with a strange tone in her voice,"Mika is my friend," Then stared hypnotically into Tomoko's eyes,"And I love her." Then silence reentered the automobile once again, leaving Kita into a hurried self- consciousness about her hastily exclaimed emotions of past, and Tomoko's strangely exciting present, yet the future entwined both rivals into an unnatural labyrinth of hope. A hope that they could catch the fair young man successfully, and a hope that Mika would be willing to become submissive just one more time.  
  
"Where exactly are we going anyways?" Tomoko broke the silence.  
  
"Just keep driving," Kita answered,"I'll tell you when to stop."  
  
"This is a very interesting piece of art, isn't it?" Yukio turned around quickly, he was almost startled by the elegant touch in this young woman's rich tone, but he was indeed startled when he saw a quite attractive lady dressed in an exceptionally soft silken blue gown, it was sleeveless to Yukio's delight, and it matched her hair and deep, pearly white skin perfectly,"I know that this particular painter was a foreigner, and not at all introduced to the more modern impressionistic movement, since this is very much abstract, but it's very attractive nonetheless."  
  
"Yes," He replied,"Very attractive." Yukio answered, yet not at all agreeing in reference towards the painting.  
  
Mika smiled,"I must apologize for this afternoon, Yukio. I was startled and I wasn't in my right mind at all. I wasn't expecting, or accepting, any particular visitors at that time."  
  
Yukio nodded his head and smiled sympathetically,"Except for Uma Tomoko, yes?"  
  
Mika blushed warmly and placed a shy hand onto her cheek,"Yes. But it isn't what you're thinking, Yukio. I wish I could explain."  
  
Yukio placed his warm, receptive hand onto Mika's hand and stared deeply into her two large sapphire orbs, she likewise stared deeply into Yukio's eyes. Yukio, she innocently inquired, who are you? Who are you exactly? You are so strange, odd, and mysteriously sensitive. You are even more mysterious than I am. But you have nothing to hold, you have everything to share with me, you have everything to part with me. You have nothing to hide. Why do you not understand that my frustrations are a result of your ever flowing disregard towards me when I am urging and yearning and practically begging you to tell me how much you love me and how much you want me. We have known of each other for many years, but now is the first time that you have ever touched me, now is the first time that you have ever moved me. Touch me forever, Yukio. Never allow your hand to part from mine. Yukio lowered his head and his lips towards Mika slowly, gently allowing himself to seep into her unknown sensual sexuality, gently tasting the hungry woman that was her as she closed her eyes in response with the suddenly intoxicating emotion. Yes, Yukio, dare to be impulsive, dare to have me.  
  
Then she opened her eyes and thought that she saw something cynical and tasteless in his eyes. Something lifeless and bleak. What was that sense of fear that just arrested my body? She wondered curiously.  
  
Mika's sensitive eyes quivered momentairily with tears, almost feeling a strange pain pouring itself into her soul, yet when her eyes lost their fire and when her eyes lost their ultimate desire and fervor, Yukio stopped what he was doing and moved his hand away quickly, he moved it so quick as if she had had a disease. And then he moved his lips and his body away, not daring to interrupt his rival flow, and he shoved her.  
  
"What?" Mika breathed angrily, feeling her rage rising quickly into her body.  
  
Yukio's weak hand shook ceaselessly,"What am I doing... I can't... you won't understand, but... I wish I could explain how I'm different... I'm sorry, Mika... I'm sorry but... I can't." Then he seemed to grin maliciously.  
  
Mika could feel her body breaking down into pieces. Why is his face so disfigured like that? What's wrong with him?  
  
"I'm sorry," He answered,"But I'm a gentleman."  
  
And that was the moment when she felt as if her entire body would crumble into tiny pieces of glass, until she heard the voice that would gradually bring her hurriedly organized and planned revenge.  
  
"Mika!"  
  
It was Uma Tomoko.  
  
Mika saw the unidentifiable gleam in Yukio's lifeless yet oddly hypnotic eyes, she felt as if she never wanted to see this ugly young man again. Then she ran blindly to her destiny. She hugged and cuddled into Uma Tomoko's strong, muscular body, hoping that he would just take her away from this place for good. Hoping that he would take her away from this place forever.  
  
Tomoko and Kita glanced equally with hate at the fair young man. Tomoko began to push Mika away gently, not listening to her protesting cries, but Kita laid a hand onto his forearm, still continuing to glance at the fair young man with a mixture of envy and vengeance,"Protect her." She commanded as she marched intentionally towards her destination, gathering all of her emotions so that she would treat this young man the way he had just treated her lover,"It's been going on for too long. It's been going on for way too long."  
  
Kita surveyed the young man's thin, weak form, he seemed to her to be a very skinny little boy, an uncivilized and uncanny excuse for a steady boyfriend for her Hanahoshi Mika. He was a poor excuse for a man entirely. Kita saw the evident confusion and fear in his eyes as she basically walked over him, she pressed her body closely onto his, synchronizing her breathing with his, feeling his sense of uncomfortableness and fear, she languished within this. She languished within this for many, many moments.  
  
Yukio's golden eyes quivered,"What..." He began. Then Kita punched him directly into his stomach, striking an unbearable chord into his stomach, sending pulsating senses of direct spasms of intense pain into his whole body. Yukio couldn't breathe at all. He grabbed out for something to hold onto and caught onto the painting of which he and Mika had both admired, stumbling nearly to the ground as the painting was becoming pulled down along with his weight, but even this subtle thought sent spasms of pain into his internals. He glanced up into the eyes of his culprit and tried to utter a sound of disbelief, but the young woman's taunt fist caught directly onto his jaw, sending a small spill of blood pouring meaninglessly from his mouth,"Outcast." She spat ruthlessly from her self- sufficient position of condescending domination.  
  
Mika ignored the abuse that was consecutively being poured onto Yukio's body and hid inside of Tomoko's large, protective fortress, then she glanced into his eyes and saw the contempt. This look into Uma Tomoko's eyes didn't look anything like the way a man would look when he was unanimously massaging and caressing her neck and head, massaging and caressing her as if she were only a small, defenseless child. It felt good to be loved,"I hate you." Mika could hear Tomoko breathe under his breath as Kita rejoined the duo.  
  
Kita placed a loving hand onto Mika's back and rubbed it with satisfaction,"Are you alright, my love?"  
  
Tomoko glanced down upon Kita with severity.  
  
Mika nodded her head,"Can we go now?" She asked, as a hint of a sadness in her voice almost clearly resonated.  
  
Kita nodded her head and looked at Tomoko,"Let's go. I will protect you."  
  
And the trio walked out.  
  
Yukio was immediately rushed upon by five wandering socialites in the five story museum, they had heard some strange noises from the fourth floor and had wondered what was going on, but cautious to coming up here for fear of burgulars. Then upon finding Yukio's disheveled body, four of the five wandering socialites went to collect first aid kits and call an ambulance to help the mildly injured man, but one woman stayed close by his side,"Mika," He cried aloud,"You don't understand... I love you... but you just don't understand who I am... you don't understand me..." And then he passed out, and all throughout his unconsciousness, the only face that he saw was the face of Hanahoshi Mika, hiding her face of regret and pain as she left the building with the others, yet glancing upon him with something like contempt.  
  
Mika, you do not understand. You can never understand me. 


End file.
